Items13The creator’s order
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Shingleback LizardOne pair in a 31-year Australian field study kept returning to each other for at least 27 years. These lizards typically reunite during the breeding season. The record comes from following known individuals, so it measures how long the same two lizards stayed partners.0 - 2
French angelfishFrench angelfish pairs have been observed swimming and feeding together and defending their shared reef territory. The two fish photographed here were swimming off Brazil. Repeated observations of pairs tell us they associate beyond spawning, while their lifetime pairing is harder to establish.0 - 3
Black-browed albatrossBlack-browed albatrosses often return to the same partner to breed again. Researchers on New Island in the Falklands recorded some birds switching partners while both were still alive. These separations occurred more often in years with warmer sea-surface temperatures.0 - 4
Prairie voleA resident prairie vole pair can share a nest and defend the same ground. Scientists tracked where voles lived and tested the parentage of their young. Some young had a parent outside the resident pair, so sharing a nest can tell you who lives together while DNA tells you about parentage.0 - 5
Mute swanMany mute swans stick with the same partner from one breeding season to the next. A field study found that death or disappearance accounted for most mate changes. Researchers also saw some pairs split even though both birds were alive the following spring.0 - 6
Eurasian beaverA Eurasian beaver colony often includes a breeding pair and their young. DNA from nine Russian colonies with offspring gave researchers no clear evidence of young fathered outside the pair. A study of North American beavers found several litters with more than one father.0 - 7
Lar gibbonWhite-handed gibbons can hold a territory as a pair and raise young in a family group. Long-running fieldwork in Thailand also recorded mating outside pairs and more flexible group arrangements. Observing how adults live together gives only part of the story.0 - 8
Sandhill craneA paired male and female can call together, answering each other in a duet. Researchers following banded cranes in Wisconsin found long-term pair bonds and strong ties to breeding territories. After a mate died or the pair split, one of the birds often kept the territory.0 - 9
Western barn owlBarn owls in a long-running Swiss study often returned to the same breeding partner. Some switched even while their former mate was alive. The new pairs laid later in the next season than the reunited pairs in that sample, though both groups raised similar numbers of fledglings.0 - 10
New Holland seahorseBiologists following wild White’s seahorses in Australia observed the same partners greeting one another early in the day and breeding together repeatedly. Some pairs were recorded in consecutive breeding seasons. This species offers a case for a lasting bond on the scale of a seahorse’s life.0
